Generation One Dutch Poster Catalog

I picked up this very interesting piece of paperwork a few months ago, I thought it was a beautiful representation of the '86 and '87 figures. When folded up it is 6" x 9", which is still pretty large for a catalog. Unfolded it is 18" x 24", quite large indeed. Though there are some oddities of note on here that I found interesting.

Verzamel De Transformeerbare Robots

In the absence of collecting figures, I have recently taken to collecting paperwork. Whereas most Transformers released in different countries are more or less the same (with some notable exceptions such as Mexican Prowl or Canadian Slag) the paperwork is almost always different. So sometimes I like to seek out catalogs or comics released in other countries. My most recent acquisition was of a catalog/comic from the Netherlands, which I believe may have come packaged with the figures but I can't be sure. However the differences in this catalog are drastic.

Charticon Aftershock, A Personal Look

Let me preface this by saying I know Flywheels is planning on doing a review of this figure if he hasn't already. Because I don't want to go over the exact same things I decided to make this post about my personal experience in creating this figure over the past ten months. This thing has been my "baby" and I am very proud to have such a nice finished product.

It is hard to even know where to start. When we first set up the idea of this convention there was no doubt in my mind that we were going to do an exclusive. And because I am very passionate about transformer toys in general, I decided I wanted to do an exclusive that would exceed all expectations, something that would literally be the best of the best. Did I achieve that?

The End of an Era

It took me over three years and I don't even want to know how much money, but I have finally completed my US Tech Spec collection, including all gift set gestalts and targetmaster/legends variants.

TFC-007 Rage of the Hercules

RAAAAAAGE!!!!

How about that? Something new! For the longest time I was on the fence about this "upgrade" set because I really thought Hercules didn't need it. He was originally designed so that most of his combiner parts were integrated into the individual robot modes. Although unfortunately TFC couldn't find a good way to hide the hands. But I figured I had already purchased everything else Hercules related so I thought why not go ahead and finish him off? I really hadn't taken a long, hard look at all of the upgrades included in this set, but I was looking forward to the forearm replacements.

On Transformers Paperwork...

This almost falls under the category of Mail Call, but I haven't done any of those for a while since things are so few and far in between nowadays. What makes this a little different is I wouldn't have this great Fort Max booklet if it weren't for a good friend of mine attending Botcon 2012. I'd like to give a shoutout to fiveironfr3nzy, without his diligence I wouldn't have been able to add this piece to my collection as cheaply and easily as I did. As it stands now I am only three more instruction booklets away from a complete G1 collection and all of those are giftset booklets. For some reason, like with everything else Fort Max related, his booklet is super expensive compared to almost all the others and thus it was one of the last I needed for my paperwork collection.

I was surprised by how small the booklet actually was, I was expecting the size to be more like Sixshot's, but I guess when you break it down Fort Max really isn't that complicated. Just large.

Mail Call! Big bunch of Tech Specs!

Thanks to a recent sale by Wheeljackslab on eBay I was able to get almost all of the rest of the tech specs I needed for my collection. I daresay now I am only missing four. I've been working on my tech specs for a long time now and I had never seen any of these come up before, so it was really great to get all these knocked out in one fell swoop.

Tech Specs:

Sky High
Legend/Kmart Grimlock
Action Master Wheeljack
Hot Rod Patrol
Missile Launcher
Snarler
Crankcase
Military Patrol
Gutcruncher
Roadblock
Action Master Shockwave

And I'm only down to one Instruction booklet: Fort Max. I just don't know if I want to drop $100 on it, that is a lot of coin!

1985 Japanese Transformers Catalog

I love some interesting paperwork, especially when I've never seen it before. So when I got Astrotrain the other day an unexpected bonus was the 1985 Japanese catalog packaged with him! Since almost all of the 1985 Japanese transformers are identical to their American counterparts I don't own any of them and thus have never had any opportunity to own this particular piece of paperwork.

Front

Back

It is actually quite stunning, and I'm surprised to see that they started the 'vs.' concept so early (the whole booklet is based around it). Other things of interest: Red Alert and Trailbreaker are 'switched' with Red Alert being with the '84 Autobots and Trailbreaker appearing with the '85 ones on the back. Gears and the entire cast of '85 minibots are missing from the catalog (I presume this is because they weren't available in Japan at the time). Soundwave appears to be using the Soundblaster mold (the cassette compartment looks like it has room for two tapes) although this is mind-boggling as Soundblaster wouldn't even be released until 1987. Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet are missing for some reason that I can't explain. And of course Omega Supreme, Jetfire, the Deluxe Autobots, Deluxe Insecticons, Shockwave and Jumpstarters are completely absent as these figures couldn't be sold in Japan under the Transformers brand since they belonged to competing companies with a large presence in Japan. Fortunately that wasn't the case for America.

Also of interest is the fact that the catalog shows both Cybertrons and Destrons on each side, not just one like the American versions. As far as I know this was changed in all subsequent years so that it was just Cybertrons on one side and Destrons on the other.

Transformers Animated Tech Specs!

As you probably already know from the flurry of posts recently I was pretty excited about Botcon this year mostly due to the fact that the exclusives were themed from the Transformers: Animated show. So imagine my surprise upon arrival in Pasadena at the two exclusive lithographs this year: Animated Tech Specs in the G1 style! Naturally one for Autobots and the other for Decepticons.

Usually the annual Lithographs don't excite me very much, but this was completely different. The team at Fun Publications (who runs Botcon) had partnered with Art Director Derrick J. Wyatt and Writer/Story Editor Marty Isenberg for the Transformers: Animated Television Show to expand the Animated Universe even further. What is great about these sets is they include all of the Animated Tech Specs that had been shown in the Transformers Collector's Club Magazine in prior years. I had been upset when these specs were produced exclusively in the Magazine and had resolved myself to eventually scan the pages and reprint them for myself. Now, I don't have to!

Additionally, we get a lot of new characters, including techs for all the Animated figures exclusive to this year's convention. Not only that, but the creators opened up a whole new can of worms with four of the 'Con' specs: Shattered Glass Animated. I believe this was done because two of the exclusive toys this year were from the 'regular' Shattered Glass Universe: Galvatron and Thundercracker. However we now have specs for Shattered Glass Optimus Prime (complete with goatee), Bumblebee, Sumdac and Sari. This provides a jumping-off point for future Animated storylines and gives us a whole new universe to consider. I fully expect some intrepid customizer to provide us with real-life examples of these characters sometime in the near future.

As you can see, I cut my lithographs up into the individual techs so I can place them in my tech spec books right behind the Beast Wars. I certainly hope that FunPub continues to produce these in the future as I really like seeing the old G1 style with new characters as well as the expansion of the Animated Universe.

An Unexpected Change of Perspective...

My buddy Flywheels over at Random Toy Reviews is doing a look back on Botcons of the recent past in celebration of Botcon 2011 starting this weekend. His posts got me all nostalgic for "the good ol' days" and so I started looking at a lot of my old Botcon pictures as well. The funny thing about looking at old pictures is you see things you never saw before. Back in 2006 I was still very much focused on completing my Beast Wars collection and obtaining a lot more G1's. I took a lot of pictures of the dealer room that year, but when I went back to look at the pictures I saw something very interesting:

Yeah, that is a crapload of Tech Specs and Instruction booklets right there. Anyone who has been following this blog for any amount of time knows that these are my highest priority right now. I originally took the picture because I thought it was a good one of Fort Max, Overlord and Scorponok; it is so funny to find this five years later. What I wouldn't give to go back and yank all those up. But it gives me good hope for this year.

I also may have actually gotten Flywheels's head in this picture, but I can't be sure. He'll have to confirm that one for me.

Mail Call: May 26th, 2011

Got some more paperwork in the mail the other day, nothing too exciting. These will probably be the last things to come in the mail until after I get back from Botcon. I sure hope I have better luck there, these last tech specs are really killing me!

Tantrum Instructions
Rampage Instructions
Brainstorm Instructions
Cloudburst Instructions
Splashdown Instructions
Slapdash Instructions

Mail Call: Monday, May 9th, 2011 (and collection update!)

The river has become a trickle; finding these later year tech specs and instructions is becoming harder and harder. So just a few items today.

Beast Wars Inferno Box (for tech spec)
Bomb Burst Instructions
Banzai-Tron Tech Specs

In other news my collection pictures are almost complete. I am about halfway though the 2002 to present day section and should be done with them soon. I am very much looking forward to having a complete photographic record of everything I own. Once the individual pictures are complete I will start showcasing room pictures.

Mail Call: April 27th, 2011

Got some more great stuff in the mail over the past few days. I decided to consolidate it to one post instead of many since I just now have blogger access again.

Instruction booklets:
Vroom
Skystalker
Darkwing
Dreadwind
Powermaster Optimus Prime
Headstrong

Tech Specs:
Vroom
Skystalker
Darkwing
Dreadwind

Parts:
Powermaster Optimus Prime Gun
Overkill gun
Raindance gun

Mail Call: April 13th, 2011 (and collection pictures update)

Right on the heels of me complaining that the G1 tech spec market had dried up is a bunch of G1 tech specs! I happened to pick these up from a recent Transformerland sale that I didn't know was coming. They had been holding out on me! Fortunately with this group I was finally able to finish off 1985 with Devastator and 1986 with Springer.

Only 44 to go!

I also thought I would go ahead and show a preview picture of my collection; it has been slow going. Over the past two days I've only been able to take eight really good photographs which cover the first four years of G1. I decided it would be best to group the figures by the year released so it can be very time consuming as I am taking every one off the shelves and posing them for group shots. So here is the preview:

1984 - The Beginning.

Here's hoping the rest of the years go a little faster. This strategy is only really viable through the end of RID though, I don't know how I am going to group them from 2003 to present.

Mail Call: April 11th, 2011

Got some more items in the mail the other day, since my quest of G1 tech specs has dried up considerably I started going after some of the Beast Wars tech specs. Unfortunately these were all I could find online, most of the others I need are no easier to find than the G1 specs.

I was also fortunate enough to find someone with an extra Wreck-Gar, so now I can finally do this:

 I am in the process of photographing my entire collection for this blog so keep an eye out in the pages section. I haven't figured out the layout or organization yet, but don't worry there will be lots of high res pictures of almost everything I have.

90's Kenner Catalogs

When I was authoring my About Me page the other day I began to get sentimental about earlier days in my youth so I started going through some old papers and pictures. While I was going through everything I happened to find some old Kenner catalogs that showcased some late G2 and Beast Wars figures. I'm not sure when Hasbro moved the Transformers brand to their Kenner department, but I think it was around 1994 and that would explain why the catalogs I have are 1995-1998. I also believe Kenner was fully integrated into Hasbro by '98 so there wouldn't be too many catalogs past that point.

These catalogs didn't just showcase Transformers, but all boy's lines being offered at the time. They are mostly populated with Batman, Nerf, Star Wars, Gargoyles, Mortal Combat, Starting Lineup and tons of others. I kept them because they reminded me of the G1 catalogs in some small form. So I thought I'd scan in the Transformers pages since they applied to my interest, I may get around to the other pages one day if I ever get that much time.

1995, Not much here...

1996, yay Beast Wars!

1997, yay more Beast Wars!

1998, long freaking catalog!

Tech Specs and Paperwork, what to do with it all!?!?

For anyone who has been curious as to what I am doing with all the paperwork I have been collecting lately (see here, here and here) I wanted to post an update on my organization. I was inspired by G1 Junkie of the TFW forms, you can see his setup here. For the longest time I thought collecting all the paperwork was a waste of time because I hadn't figured out any really good way to organize and showcase everything. Once I saw G1J's method I was inspired. It took a while to find all of the materials to make it happen, but here is a small sample of what I've been able to do in the past five months:

This is really fun to just sit and read for a while.

What doesn't belong?

I need to figure out a way to keep these guys in their sleeves, they like to come out easily.

 You'll notice I have a Bruticus Tech Spec in the second picture. Seasoned fans will know that Bruticus never had his own tech spec in America because a Bruticus Giftset was not available. The same thing occurred for Abominus while Predaking, Reflector and Monstructor's tech specs were printed on instruction booklets. I decided that I wanted to include a tech spec for all of these guys in my collection since the other gestalts have one. The ones I printed for myself came from Slim, he does some great custom tech specs and they fit in perfectly with the originals. Unfortunately as of this writing I am still 57 tech specs and 39 instruction booklets short of a complete collection, but I am well on my way. If anyone has any extras they want to get rid of, let me know, I may just need some! Oh, and you may ask where do I go once my G1 paperwork collection is complete....

...oh, I dunno.

Mail Call: March 8th, 2011

I would have posted this earlier, but I have been out of town for the entire past week on family business. All my other posts during that time were pre-scheduled. Anyway, just a quick update on some more paperwork stuff I happened to acquire from a the same auction from which I got the book with tape. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to regular posting this week.

Guzzle Tech Spec
Scourge Tech Spec
Rad Tech Spec
Rescue Patrol Tech Spec
Air Patrol Tech Spec
Skyfall Tech Spec
Seaspray Cardback
Chase Cardback
Freeway Cardback
Groove Cardback
Blades Cardback
First Aid Cardback
Streetwise Cardback
Dead End Cardback
Breakdown Cardback
Blot Cardback

Honestly these cardbacks aren't in the greatest condition. They are worn and flimsy, you can tell they haven't been cared for very well. But no big deal, I got them all in a lot and tech specs and instructions are much more important to me right now. I only pick up cardbacks when I can get them for a good deal.

Mail Call: March 5th, 2011

Just a couple of small goodies today, more paperwork and some parts. Although I did get my hands on the coveted Fort Max tech spec which can be difficult to find in good condition.

Fort Max Tech Spec
Flattop Tech Spec
Cutthroat Tech Spec
Tantrum Catalytic Carbine Guns

Mail Call: March 2nd, 2011

Another good mail day! Still all paperwork, I am really trying to get all this tied up soon but I know many of the '88-'90 techs and instructions aren't that easy to find, even if they are cheap. Anyway, great haul today, almost done with '87!

Gnaw Instructions
Razorclaw Instructions
Springer Instructions
Divebomb Instructions
Skyhopper Instructions
Skystalker Instructions
Punch/Counterpunch Tech Specs
Chromedome Tech Specs
Brainstorm Tech Specs
Crosshairs Tech Specs
Blot Tech Specs
Airwave Tech Specs
Legend/Kmart Bumblebee Tech Specs
Flamefeather Tech Specs

Ka-ching!